Improvement in quartz-crushing



' cannot turn without turning the piston to which STATES NITE 114|@DANIEL HUGHES, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN QUARTZ-CRUSHING.

To all whom 'it may concern: v

Be it known that l', DANIEL HUGHES, of Rochester, in the county ofMonroe and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Machinefor Crushing Quartz, Sac.; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof', which will enable thoseskilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure l represents a longitudinal vertical section of this invention.Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates toicertain improvements in that class ofquartz-Crushers in which stampers or pestles are used, the force ofwhich is increased by the action ot' steam or of the atmosphericair on apiston working in a closed or open cylinder. In Ordinar)7 crush ers ofthis construction the piston-rod is firmly connected to the stamper-rod,and the pestle it is`attached, and thereby the operation of turning saidpestle is rendered difficult, if not impracticable. This difficulty isobviated by providing' the stamper-rod with a socket to receive the endof the piston-rod, which isloosely inserted therein, so as to permit thepestle to rotate independent of the piston by the action of a tappetsecured to the driving-shaft on a disk or shoulder attached to thestamper-rod. A piece of leather or other suitable material insertedbetween the end of the piston-rod and the bottom of the socket preventsjars at that point, and for the same purpose a piece of leather or othersuitable material is inserted into the socket of the pestle between theboitom thereof and the lower end of the stamperrod.

An air-blast introduced at one side of the stamper-box or mortar drivesthe fine particles ot'quartz outthrough an upwardly-inclined spout, theinclination of which is so regulated that the coarse particles which areor may be carried up a short distance by the air-blast roll back intothe mortar, where they are again exposed to the action of the stampersuntil they have been reduced to the desired degree of u'neness. Themortar is provided with a series of small holes round the anvils,through which the heaviest parts of the quartz, such as small grains ofgold or silver, drop down, so as to reduce the quantity of mercury whichhas to be used after the stamping process for amalgamation.

A represents a mortar made of cast-iron or l any other suitablematerial, and supported by a bed-plate, B. Said mortar is arranged fortwo more or less) pestles, C, which are secured to rods D by means ofsuitable keys or wedges, and in order to reduce the jar between the endof the rods and the pestles small disks of leather or other suitablematerial are placed in the sockets intended to receive the rods, asshown in Fig. 1.

The pestles G are opposite to movable anvils E', which are inserted inthe bottom ofthe mortar, so that they can be removed when they are wornout and replaced by new ones.

The stampers are lifted by tappets a secured to the main shaft b, saidtappets being made to act on collars or disks c, which are fastened onthe rods D. These rods rise up through a boX, D', the top of whichsupports the cylinders E, and the upper ends of the said rods are boredout to receivethe lower ends of piston-rods d connecting to pistons c,which work in the cylinders E. These cylinders may be open on the top,and as the pistons rise by the action of the tappets on the disks of thestampers the air in the lower parts of said cylinders is raretied, andwhen the tappets relieve the stampers the pressure ot' the outsideatmosphere on the upper sides of the pistons causes vsaid stampers todescend with great force. It' desired, the cylinders E may be closed andarranged to be used with steam; but in most cases the pressure of theatmospheric air is sufficient to impart to the descending stampers therequisite force or momentum. The tappets a, on sweeping over the lowersurfaces of the disks C,` have a tendency to impart to the stampers arevolving motion, and in order to obtain the benefit of this motion thepiston-rods d are placed loosely into their sockets in the upper endsofthe stamper-rods D. Small disks of leather,f, placed into thesesockets and under the ends of the piston-rods, serve to lessen the jarand prevent the rods from being bent or injured by the continuous blowsto which they are exposed when `the machine is in operation.

The quartz to be crushed is fed to the mortar A through a hopper, g,which communicates with a tube, h, and through this tube a current ofairis forced in. vBy this air those particles of quartz which have beenreduced to the desired degree of neness are swept oft' through theinclined spout 1'., which extends from that side of the mortar oppositethe tube h. The inclination of this spout is so adj ustedbe mixed withthe quartz and which cannot be reduced by theaction of the stampers tosuch a degree of fineness that the current of air forced in through thetube is enabled to sweep them off. A pretty large quantity of theprecious metals is thus separated from the quartz in a pure state, andythe subsequent op eration of treating the crushed quartz either withmercury or otherwise is facilitated.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Placing theends of the piston-rods d loosely into the sockets of the stamper-rodsD, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the leather disks]L with the rotary stamp-rods Dand loosepistonrods d, as and for the purposes specied.

' DANIEL HUGHES.

Witnesses M. M. LIVINesToN, U. L.'Tc1 L1FF.

